Samuel t



'UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

SAMUEL T. THOMAS, 0F LAVRENCE, MASSACHUSETTS.

LOOM.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 18,186, dated July 3, 1855.

is fully described and represented in the following specification andthe accompanying drawings, letters, figures, and references thereof.

Of the said drawings, Figure 1, denotes a top view of my said loom; Fig.2, is a front elevation of it. Fig. 3, is an elevation of the right endof it. Fig. 4, is avertical and longitudinal section of it, the sainebeing taken through the cam shaft to be hereinafter described; Fig. 5,is a vertical central and transverse section of it; Fig. 6, is anelevation of the left end; such other figures as may be necessary to afull and complete delineation of the parts constituting my inventionwill be hereinafter referred to and described.

In the said drawings A, exhibits the frame of the loom, it beingconstructed in any proper manner to support the operative parts to behereinafter explained.

B, is the main driving shaft; C, the cam shaft; D, the lay; E, thebreast beam; F, the yarn bea-1n; G, the reed, and H, H, H, a series ofharnesses, such being the component or principal parts of an ordinaryfancy loom. The main driving shaft gives motion to the-cam shaft bymeans of gears a, affixed respectively to them as seen in Fig. 6.

The two harnesses which are nearest to the lay are for the purpose ofproducing what is termed plain weaving, while with the remainder fancyweaving is effected. The top bar of each fancy weaving harness issupported by two cords c, c, which extend upward against and turnhorizontally over friction pulleys or sheaves f, f, arranged as seen inthe drawings, the said two cords being hooked to a strap g, which isfastened to the upper end of one of a set of upright triarmed levers I,I, 'I. The lower bar of each of said harnesses is attached to two cords71., h, which work downward around, and are carried horizontally undertwo friction pulleys z', t', arranged as seen in Fig. 4L. From thenceboth of these cords are united to one strap lc, attached to the lowerend or arm of the triarmed lever I, to which the upper bar of saidharness is connected as hereinbefore mentioned. Each of the levers I, is

arranged so as tb turn on a common fulcrum or horizontal shaft K, andhas a third arm Z, extended from it and provided with a stud or frictionroller, which is made to enter and work in a groove of a series of cams,L, L, L. These cams are arranged and fixed upon a horizontal shaft M, asseen in Figs.

.1, 2, 3 and 4. By means of bevel gears n,

and 0, the said shaft receives motion from a horizontal shaft(represented at m, in Fig. l, by dotted lines) on which is a spur gearw, that is made to engage with a pinion p fixed upon one end of thedriving shaft B. During the rotary movement of the driving shaft rotarymotion therefrom will be communicated to the cam shaft M and its cams,

and so as to produce such movements of the y described manner, thoseharnesses which are used for fancy weaving, we are not only enabled tocause each harness to play only in a vertical plane, but we arrange itsoperative mechanism in suoli a position as will enable us to gain mucheasier access thereto than would be the case were it placed underneaththe harnesses and within the main body of the loom frame in the usualway.

It will readily be seen that when a harness is suspended from the end ofa horizontan lever, in consequence of its point of suspension being madeto work in the arc of a circle, such harness notwithstanding it may havea vertical movement will at the same time have more or less of lateralmovement, which will operate not only to produce wear of the warp, butalso of the eyes or loops of the harness. It will therefore be seen howdesirable it is that a harness should play vertically without having anylateral motion whatever imparted to it and whether such be in directionstransversely or longitudinally of the looin. Besides the peculiarlateral movement of the harness as occasioned by a lever as above setforth, it is also desirable to prevent the harness from having anyswaying lateral movement such as generally occurs when its bars areconnected to levers in the ordinary way. r

By attaching each bar of each harness to two cords and running suchcords over pulleys and fastening them to a lever as hereinbeforeexplained, such lever when put in operation will cause such harness tobe moved vertically and without either any lateral or swinging motion.l

The two front harnesses which are for the purpose of weaving plain clothor sel'vages or plain stripes in the fancy weaving have their upper barsoperated by cords g, g, which work around four pulleys, s, s, and, t,arranged as seen in Fig. l. Each cord after being attached to one end ofone of the bars is carried upward and partially around one of thepulleys, s, and is next made to pass horizontally tow'ard thefarthestpulley, t, and is carried into the groove of said pulley anddownward and is fastened to the opposite end of the other harness bar.In this way both harness bars are not only supported by pulleys, buteach end of one is connected with the opposite end of the other by acord. The lower bars of these harnesses are respectively attached bymeans of four cords u, u, to four straps o, o, each of which is attachedtoand extended around the periphery of a pulley or drum, w, or, fixedupon a horizontal shaft 0, as seen in the drawings. The two straps undereach two adjacent ends of the harnesses are carried in oppositedirections around their drum as seen in Fig. 5, in order that when theshaft is rotated in one direct-ion it will` wind up two of the strapsand unwind the other two, the same causing one of the harnesses todescend and the other simultaneously to ascend. The rotary movement ofthe shaft, O, is produced by means of a sectoral lever, I), (see Fig. 3)which works upon a fulcrum at, y, and is connected to the shaft by meansof two straps or bands, e, e, which are attached to and wound inopposite directions around the periphery of a small drum or pulley a,fixed upon the shaft, O. On one side of the lever, P, is a stud orroller b', which is represented in Fig. 3, bydotted lines the same beingmade. tO enter the groove of a cam Q., fixed upon the cam shaft C.During the rotation'of the shaft, C, a reciprocating vert-ical movementwill be imparted to the lever, P, so as to produce through the action ofthe straps, z, e, a reciprocating rotary movement of the shaft,

Upon the cam shaft, C,there is placed a cylindrical grooved cam,R,thegroove of which is represented in Fig. 7, as developed on a plainsurface. A friction roller or stud proj ecting upward from one end of ahorizontal lever, S, enters and works in the groove of said cam, saidlever playing upon a fulcrum at, T, and having its front end fixed toone end of a flexible strap, U, whose opposite end is fastened to thepicker staff, V, such picker staff extending up into and working inthefshuttle box IV.

The strap, U, should be sufliciently stiff to force the picker staffbackward immediately after each throw of the shuttle and while thelever, S, is moving in a direction toward the staff. By having the strapmade with such a degree of stiffness we avoid the necessity of applyinga spring tothe picker staff, for the purpose of retracting, and we causethe `strap to perform the function notv only of drawing the picker staffbut that of forcing it backward. This is a very important improvementIin operating the picker staff, for although it has heretofore been drawnin one direction only by a strap, such strap has always been made soflexible as to require some other contrivance for the retraction of t-helever. It is' well known that such refractive mechanism as has beengenerally employed has been very liable to become deranged or get out oforder on account of the nature of its construction and the blows, whichthe picker stall' is constantly receiving during its operation. Thestiff strap working in two directions and having flexibility orelasticity sullicient to relieve the picker staff from the sudden blowsit receives has been found to operate with great success, advantage, andeconomy.

In Figs. l, and 5, there is shown a lever, X, of the stop motion ormechanism by which the movements of the loom are arrested wheneverbreakage of the `filling thread occurs. This lever, or its upper arm, asis well known 'has a reciprocating movement given to it, and usually hasbeen operated in connection with a forked lever, Y, whose rear orhorizontal arm carried a small hook which by the peculiar movement ofthe lever was maintained out of the path of motion of the lever X, whilethe filling thread remained whole or unbroken. breakage of the fillingthread took place the hook would be dropped into the path of the leverand upon the upper arm of said lever in such manner as would cause thehook and its supporting frame to be moved. backward by the lever and soas to give motion to another lever which acting against the shipperwould throw it from its notch and thereby produce a stoppage of theloom, said operation being understood by weavers.

In my improved loom I apply the forked lever, Y, to a stationary arm orprojection c', fastened to the breast beam, E, and I joint to the upperarm of the lever X, a small lever or pitman d', as seen in Figs. l, and6, and also in Fig. 8, which is a vertical section of said pitman, and'that part of ,the lever X to which it is attached. The

said pitman CZ', turns upon a fulcrum, e',

and operates in connection with a small rocker lever, f, which works inthe lever X, and is composed of a shaft and two arms g h', as seen inside view in Fig. 9.-()ne of these arms, viz. h rests and works againstan inclined plane or cam z", formed on the underside of the rear orgravitating arm of Vhenever to the periphery of the friction roller.

the lever or pitman CZ', the other arm, g, extending upward from thelever and so that when the catch hook of the lever Y falls downward itmay come into the path of movement of said arm and thereby catch uponsaid arm so as to cause the rocker lever, f', to be rotated in suchmanner as to produce the depression of the front arm of the pitman CZ.Vhen such arm is so depressed and moved forward it will be carried intocontact with the lever 7.5', of the shipper Z', and will move said leverso as to force said shipper off' the shoulder or notch m7, of itsslotted guide plate n. The helical spring, 0, is fixed to the rockerlever, f', and the lever X, and operates so as to retract the lever, f,when the lever, X, moves backward. The gravitating arm of the pitmanwhen relieved of the pressure of the lever f will fall and raise thefront arm of the pitman entirely above the lever, 7s, by which theshipper is actuated.

From the above it will be seen, that the only strain there is producedupon the catch hook of the forked lever Y, is that which is juistsufficient to move the rocker arm, f, and the pitman so' that the lattermay be moved by the lever, X, against the lever, 7c. Thus the greatstrain necessary to effect the movement of the lever, c, is not borne inmy improved stop motion by the forked lever Y, as it is in various otherstop motions.

In Fig. l, the yarn beam, F, is represented as furnished with a frictionpulley, p', which has a band or cord r wound several times around itsperiphery. One end of this cord is fastened to a projection from thelower part of a lever, s', which turns upon a fulcrum at its upper end,and is suspended therefrom, and between the pulley and its end of themain frame of the machine. Such lever being particularly eX- hibited inFig. 5, which shows by dotted lines that part of it which is in rear ofthe friction pulley. The other end of the friction cord is attached to apin or screw bolt t', which passes and slides through an ear u, extendedfrom the lever, s. Below this ear and on the screw bolt there is placeda helical spring, o, which by means of a screw nut, w', is borne againstthe ear u, and serves todraw the friction cord close In proportion asthe cord is drawn tighter upon the periphery of the friction roller sowill the tension .on the warp be increased. The lever, s', before namedrests against a spring w', which is supported in a boX or case, y,fastened to the end of the main frame, as seen in Fig. 5. The saidspring, by the tension or draft on the warps caused either by the beatof the lay or the springing of the harnesses will enable the yarn beamto turn a little and accommodate itself to such strain or draft andmaintain an equality of tension upon the warp.A

sta-ff in opposite directions by means of a flexible strap havingsufficient stiffness to move said picker staff backward, when said strapis moved by a lever substantially as specified.

2. I also claim combining with the operating lever X, and, the forkedlever, y, of the stop motion, a lever or pitman, d, and a tripping orrocker lever, f, or the equivalent thereof, the same being for thepurpose of operating the lever of the shipper and relieving the forkedlever, Y, of strain as specified, the said improvement enabling to beused, a forked lever, Y, of 'great lightness and delicacy ofconstruction, and capable of being operated by the finest qualities ofweft and thread.

3. I do not claim applying a friction pulley and band to the yarn beam,nor do I claim sustaining the warp by means of a guide roller supportedby upright levers operating with weighted levers by two sectors andgears and for the purpose of maintaining` an equality of tension on thewarp during the weaving operation, but what I do claim is arranging andcombining the friction pulley, p', the band, r, the lever, s', andspring, zr, of its equivalent, so as to operate together and withrespect to the yarn beam substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my signature this seventh dayof April, A. D. 1855.`

SAMUEL T. THOMAS.

Vitnesses:

R. H. EDDY, F. P. HALE, Jr.

